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a | UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
. BULLETIN No. 732
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry
WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief
Washington, D. C. November 14, 1918
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE
By
G. P. RIXFORD, Physiologist, Crop Physiology and
Breeding Investigations
CONTENTS
Page Page
The Smyrna Fig Industry ...... 1 | Caprifig Plantations . ......e- 21
Crigin of Smyrna Fig Culture ... . 2 |. The Seedling Fig Orchard at Loomis, Cal. 21
Introduction of Smyrna Figs into the Harvesting and Curing . 22
United States Packing Figs . . ... 24
Classification of Cultivated Figs Wess Shipping Fresh Figs ... . Ao
Crops of the Fig Tree ‘ Smyrna Fig Culture in the Southern
Ability of the Caprifig to Carry the Win- States 26
ter Crop Aa ata ateraet Oo fad 28
The Fig Flowers ° : Descriptions of Varieties 34
Caprifig Seeds Opportunities inthe Industry . 40
Application of Caprifigs to Smyrna Trees Bibliography .. .» 41
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1918
SESS S ies
— :
f aaah PUBLICATION of a bulletin on the Smyrna fig has
become necessary, because recent investigations have
developed facts not previously noted and no literature is avail-
able which gives all the particulars necessary to a perfect
understanding of the intricacies of the industry in this country.
It is thought important to encourage the more extensive
cultivation of one of the most wholesome fruit foods known to
agriculturists, a fruit the culture of which promises in the near
future to become an important industry in this country, and
also to correct errors into which authors have fallen for the lack
of the opportunities for investigation presented in California, —
among which may be mentioned inaccuracies in relation to the
classification of fig flowers and the reason for the paucity of seeds »
in caprifigs.
The writer desires to express his obligation for valuable sug-
gestions to Dr. L.O. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Entomology,
United States Department of Agriculture, the author of a valu-
able article on Smyrna figs.
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3
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
BULLETIN No. 732 ¢
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry
WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief
Washington, D. C. vV November 14, 1918
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE.
By G. P. Rixrorp, Physiologist, Crop Physiology and Breeding Investigations.
CONTENTS.
Page. Page.
The Smyrna fig industry .........-.--------- IP lieCaprifig¢plantationsee-ms-ce see esse ee aes 21
Origin of Smyrna fig culture.....-.-..------- 2 | The seedling fig orchard at Loomis, Cal...... 21
Introduction of Smyrna figs into the United Harvesting an@icuning -s4.2--52--5- see oe 22
SHRI sche owe 6 ooo booemaceeene Udea oe eure Bi) ENO Gis HB ho Qocee obcedoss oo aaedies ao succes 24
Classification of cultivated figs........-.--.-- 4 ohippinetres Nese ease sees eee 25
Cropsiombmenteyinecsean 002 mee ea-te ear: 6 | Smyrna fig culture in the Southern States. -. 26
Ability ofthe caprifig to carry the winter crop 9 | Starting a Smyrna fig orchard.............-- 28
The tieehOwensea ts. G20 nessa eni er cee 10 Making and rooting cuttings............. 30
Lite OCIA ONG Aaeaceaoasececoces-seoer 11 Adaptation to climate? 2-.-- 2. o-- sass: 30
Lifeotthe Blastophaga....:.-...+.------ 12 Preserving mamme caprifigs...........-- 31
Proportion of male and female insects in NOMPeGUITEMeHUS =. 94 48- a nae e see 31
CAMMES Mee eect eta eee estes anenee ese 14 Cultivation and irrigation. .............- 32
Oviposition by Blastophaga.......-.---- 15 PUAN 9st a tie ee yes 5 aoe eeae an eee 32
Caimi pesec d sepa eee eae se eee areata 15 Gratting yess estate cece meen are nae 32
Seeds accompanied by secretion of sugar- 16 Freedom from diseases and insect pests. - 33
Gane ATION Were. ics s Sato iorin 2 16 he splittin sof Mess se sere ee eee 34
Appr iion of caprifigs to Smyrna trees..... 18 IRIS TCOM iN Gis Sees s Bos, eee ee Oran 34
When Smyrna figs are receptive. ......-- 18a Deseriptions:ofvarieties\ 255. 42 4-- 42 5-o42 5. oe 34
Several applications of caprifigs advanta- SMYTNAWVALIOUIeS setae aes eee 35
PE MUSH eens. AOI OMEN Slag Coke. 18 Caprlivarietiesi: fe tise coe cece niece 38
Caprification not an expensive operation. 19 | Opportunities in the industry............-.. 40
When to gather profichi caprifigs........ LOM eeBilbliographyaee qa =i Ses tals sia is = Tees 41
Caprification of common figs.........-.-- 20
THE SMYRNA FIG INDUSTRY.
The United States is annually importing from Asia Minor and the
countries of southern Europe from 19 to 20 million pounds of dried
figs of a value of nearly a million dollars. About two-thirds of the
tonnage and nine-tenths of the value consist of figs of the Smyrna
type. The area in the Southwestern States and California is equally
as well adapted to the fig industry as is the Meander Valley of Asia
Minor and is more than extensive enough to produce many times the
quantity imported into this country. At the present time the annual
production of Smyrna figs in California, which is almost the total
yield in this country, is not far from 2,000 tons. The imported figs
can not be bought for less than 17 or 18 cents a pound wholesale,
71807°—18—Bull, 732—1
2 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
whereas there is a good profit in growing such figs for one-half that
price. When American-grown Smyrna figs can be put on the mar-
ket at 15 cents a pound retail, the consumption will be greatly
increased. The field will therefore be a promising one for many
years to come.
The pollination of Smyrna fig flowers by the fig insect Blastophaga
psenes is one of the most obscure and complicated processes known to
botanists. Caprification was little understood and even considered
unnecessary by most of the leading botanists and horticulturists
of Europe almost up to the beginning of the present century. They
believed it to be the result of ignorant superstition on, the part of |
the inhabitants of Asia Minor. They did not believe that the fig
and caprifig were the female and male forms of a single diccious
species, but persisted in classifymg’ them as two separate species.
This belief was generally adhered to until the indispensable neces-
sity of caprification was demonstrated in 1885 by Dr. Gustay Eisen,
of Fresno, Cal. (8)... Therefore, it is not strange that the operation
was little known and appreciated even by people familiar with the
growth of common figs.
ORIGIN OF SMYRNA FIG CULTURE.
The fig family (Moracez) is one of the largest in the vegetable
world. Botanists have identified and cescribed more than 600
species, mostly tropical evergreens, frequently of gigantic size, often
climbers or epiphytic. Very few of the species produce edible fruits,
but many yield other useful products. One of them, Ficus elastica,is
an important rubber producer.
All of the leading cultivated figs belong to the species Ficus carica.
Two or three other species producing edible fruits may be mentioned
here, but they are of little importance. Among them is the Ficus
sycomorus of Egypt, the fruit of which is consumed by the natives
of that country. Another, Ficus roxburghw, native to the lower
slopes of the Himalaya Mountains in northern India, produces a fruit
of very large size, in massive clusters, but of not very high quality.
Ficus pseudocarica of northeastern Africa (the Italian colony of
Eritrea and Abyssinia) produces a small, dark-colored, sweet, quite
palatable fruit, the capri form of which is receiving considerable atten-
tion in California.
The original home of the cultivated fig (Ficus carica) conforms
closely to that of the olive. Alphonse de Candolle (2) sums up the
subject in a few words, as follows: “The result of our inquiry shows,
then, that the prehistoric area of the fig covered the middle and
southern parts of the Mediterranean Basin, from Syria to the Ca-
)
naries.’’ The fig has been cultivated in these regions from the earliest
1The serial numbers in parentheses refer to the ‘‘ Bibliography,’’ pp. 41-43.
«oe Ma 4a
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 3
historical times. The extreme ease with which it can be propagated
from cuttings, its resistance to heat and drought, its early bearing,
its value as human food, and the ease of its culture had in the early
ages much to do with its wide dissemination.
INTRODUCTION OF SMYRNA FIGS INTO THE UNITED STATES.
Regarding the first introduction of the Smyrna fig into the United
States, it may be mentioned that a detailed account by the writer of
this bulletin was reprinted by Dr. Gustav Eisen (11, pp. 67-69) in
1901. For present purposes a synopsis will be sufficient.
Believing that the soil and climate of California were perfectly
adapted to the growth of Smyrna figs, the writer, who was at that time
business manager of the Evening Bulletin of San Francisco, Cal., in-
duced the proprietors of that journal to make an appropriation of funds
to undertake the introduction from Asia Minor of the genuine Smyrna
fig of commerce. In January, 1880, the assistance of E. J. Smithers,
then United States consul at Smyrna, was enlisted in aid of the enter-
prise. A remittance was made to cover the expense of forwarding
a small shipment of 500 cuttings, including a few caprifig cuttings.
This shipment reached San Francisco on June 8, 1880, but owing to
defective packing, a considerable portion of the wood had rotted and
the season was so far advanced that the cuttings made but a feeble
growth, although the greatest care was taken with them. However,
200 of them were saved and showed promise of becoming thrifty trees.
About this time Mr. Smithers arrived in San Francisco en route to
Chinkiang, China, to which consulship he had just been assigned.
He stated that at the time the shipment was made he and the drago-
man of the consulate at Smyrna had caused to be planted 4,000 cut-
tings, which had meantime become rooted trees and could be pur-
chased at from 8 to 10 cents each, the usual price of trees in Asia
Minor. Rather than disappoint the county subscribers of the paper
who were expecting the promised trees that season, it was then deter-
mined to import the whole lot. Funds were therefore forwarded to
an American merchant in Smyrna with instructions to purchase the
trees referred to and ship them at once. About the first of April,
1881, instead of the trees, a letter dated February 16 came to hand,
from which the following paragraph is taken:
I have had Mr. at my office, who says that the 4,000 cuttings he had planted
and to which your order refers (on E. J. Smithers’ suggestion) have by this time grown
up into strong young trees from 4 to 6 feet high, and he is offered $1 per tree at the
nursery at Aidin. He says he can not afford now to part with them at anything under
$1.25 each, from this port (first cost).
The prices mentioned in the letter discouraged further negotiations
for this lot. However, correspondence was kept up with the agent
during the summer, and in September, 1881, orders were sent to make
4 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
a large shipment of cuttings which it was found could be had at a
reasonable price from one of the best orchards in the Meander Valley,
the most important fig district of Asia Minor. Every precaution had
been taken to assure the safe arrival of this consignment, even by
shipping moss from New York in which to pack the cuttings. The
cases on arrival in New York were repacked before being shipped
across the continent by the southern route, as the season was mid-
winter.
The shipment consisted of 14,000 cuttings, including several varie-
ties of the best Smyrna figs. It weighed several tons and arrived in
excellent condition. W.B. West, of Stockton, James Shinn, of Niles,
Gov. Leland Stanford, of San Francisco, and Dr. J. D. B. Stillman, of
Lagona, Cal., had shares in the importation, but the San Francisco
Bulletin Company had the larger portion and paid the greater part of
the expense. A large number of cuttings were distributed to 3,000
county subscribers of the Bulletin, while the individual shares went
to the different partners in the enterprise. Gov. Stanford planted
most of his cuttings on his ranch near Vina, Cal., now the property of
Stanford University. The trees resulting from this importation are
now growing in all parts of California and other Southwestern States.
Some have attained gigantic size, a number recently measured by the
writer having trunks 3 feet in diameter.
‘CLASSIFICATION OF CULTIVATED FIGS.
The cultivated varieties of Ficus carica include more than 100,
most of which have been successfully established in the Southern and
Southwestern States and California. The Lob Ingir variety, the
Turkish name of the common Smyrna fig (fig. 1), is unique in requiring
pollination in order to bring its fruit to perfection. Linnzus and
other botanists as early as 1744 reached the conclusion that the
capri fig is the male form and all the common varieties, including
the Smyrna, the female forms of a diecious species. The caprifigs
are male, because they contain male or staminate flowers; the com-
mon varieties and Smyrnas are female, because they contain only
female or pistillate flowers. These fertile or female figs may be
again divided into two classes, namely, the Smyrna figs, the flowers
of which must be pollinated in order to mature fruit, and the other
large class, frequently called the Adriatic class, the fruits of which
reach maturity without pollination. The latter race includes most
of the varieties cultivated in all fig-growing countries. Some of the
best and most extensively grown in this country are the Adriatic,
Brunswick, Barnissotte Black, Barnissotte White, Dottato or Kodato,
White Genoa, Gentile, Large Black Douro (one of the largest m culti-
vation), Mission or California Black, Pastelliére (Eisen says if he
could plant only one blue variety it would certainly be this fig), Black
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 5
San Pedro, and Versailles. In the Gulf and Atlantic Coast States
the kinds most generally grown are the Celeste, Magnolia, Lemon,
Brunswick, Ischia, and Brown Turkey.
The common ar eored figs are of two kinds, the caprified or
Smyrna figs and the common cultivated figs which do not require
P36915CP
Bia. 1.—Lob Ingir (Smyrna) figs. The large fig is fully mature, the others partly so. (Nearly natural
size.)
caprification. Until recent years only varieties of the latter kind
were known in America. The figs of the Smyrna type do not set
any fruit at all unless the flowers are pollinated, that is, unless the
fig trees are caprified. Ordinary fig trees of the noncaprifying varie-
ties produce fruit perfectly well by themselves wherever the climate
6 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
permits. The culture of Smyrna figs on the contrary necessitates the
simultaneous culture of caprifigs which harbor the fig insect and
bear the pollen necessary to fertilize figs of the Smyrna type.
The fig is not a fruit in the sense in which we regard the apple,
peach, etc., but is what is known to botanists as a receptacle, upon
the inner surface of which are arranged hundreds of unisexual flow-
ers. At the apex of the receptacle is an opening called the eye,
which in the young fruit is closed by a number of scales or imbricated
bracts. The blossoms are
therefore effectually cut
off from the outer world,
and as the female flowers
can not be supplied with
pollen by the wind and
can not pollinate them-
selves, dependence must
be had on the fig insect
(Blastophaga psenes).
CROPS OF THE FIG TREE.
All of the female fig
trees, both of the Smyrna
class, the fruit of which
never matures without
pollination, and most of
the other large class,
which does not require
pollination, have two
well-defined crops. The
first pushes from the old
wood and appears in
| spring, ripening in July
= ———— and August. In Spam
Fic. 2.—Mature mamme (winter) and young profichi (spring) these fruits are called
caprifigs. The mamme figsare thelargerones. (Nearly one- brebas and in France
half natural size.) fs Route = figues D été.
The next, which is the main crop, called in Spain higos and in France
figues d’automne, springs from the axils of the leaves of the new wood
and ripens in summer and fall.
The male or caprifig tree has two well-defined crops and a third
which is in doubt by some authorities (figs. 2and3). To these for
convenience the Neapolitan names proficht (spring crop), mammont
(summer crop), and mamme (winter crop) have been applied. The
mamme crop forms in autumn on the wood of the current season ,
and the Blastophaga from the preceding mammoni oviposits in
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 7
them when they have reached the size of filberts. By December these
mamme fruits are the size of small walnuts and change but little
during the winter. The insect hibernates in them in the larval con-
dition and will endure a temperature of 14° or 15° F. without injury.
As the weather becomes warm in spring, the insects develop rapidly
and, are ready to issue in April (fig. 4), when the spring (profichi)
crop on the same or other capri trees isin a receptive condition. This
crop grows in clusters on the old wood at the extreme ends of the
branches and, unlike the mamme, which is nearly spherical, is much
Fig. 3.—Mammoni (fall) caprifigs. (About one-halfnatural size.)
larger and usually has a pronounced neck. It is produced in enor-
mous numbers, many times greater than any other crop, a wise pro-
vision of nature, as it is the one which is most abundantly supplied
with pollen and also the one which is exclusively used to pollinate
the main Smyrna fig crop. The late summer crop of the capri tree,
known as mammoni, unlike the others, pushes from the axils of the
leaves on the new wood, and matures from August to the middle of
November. This crop serves to carry the Blastophaga through the
late summer and fall months. The Blastophaga from these mammoni
8 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
figs oviposit in the winter crop and thus the cycle of the yearly life
of the insect is completed.
Doubts have been expressed as to the existence of three distinct
crops of caprifigs, and with good reason, for at times and in some
climates belated mammoni hibernate with themamme. H. G. Solms-
Laubach says that in Europe there is no sharp distinction between
Fig. 4.—Mature profichi caprifigs with Blastophaga about ready toissue. (About two-thirdsnatural size.)
the mammoni and the mamme crops and that fruits of the former
crop which do not mature in the fall remain as mamme over winter.
They both occupy the same position on the branch, both developing
on the new wood. The chief difference between the two is that the
former contains a well-defined cluster of staminate flowers, while in
the mamme with rare exceptions no male flowers have been observed
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. | 9
except in Ficus pseudocarica, which regularly bears pollen in the
winter-generation caprifigs. These hibernating mammoni figs are
so similar in form and general appearance to the mamme figs that
without cutting them open it is difficult to tell them apart.
To summarize, the necessity of sheltering the fig insect the whole
year round leads to the curious result that the caprifig trees bear
through the winter on their bare branches the so-called winter
generation or mamme caprifigs, from which issue in spring the fig
insects, which thereupon lay their eggs in the enormously abundant
spring generation of caprifigs or profichi. These profichi, which
mature in June, are used to caprify the Smyrna figs, which at this
season have areata of young fruits just ready for “thie Blastophaga
‘to enter. The caprifig trees also bear a somewhat scanty crop of
summer-generation fruit called mammoni, which furnishes a breeding
place for the fig insect and carries it over from season to season.
After late summer the fruits on the caprifig tree become irregular,
and, all sizes of fruits can be found on the tree at the same time; and
generally the fig insects can be found issuing at any time from Sep-
tember to November. As winter comes on and the growth of the
caprifig tree becomes slower, a few tardy fruits set, which hang on
through the winter, constituting the winter generation or mamme
crop noted already. )
ABILITY OF THE CAPRIFIG TO CARRY THE WINTER CROP.
Probably more caprifig varieties are now established in California
‘ than are to be found in any other country in the world, owing in
- part to the enterprise of the late W. B. West, of Stockton; Mr. Van
Lennep, of Auburn; George C. Roeding and G. N. Milco, of Fresno;
Febx Gillett, of Nevada City; and largely to the United States
Department of Agriculture. Here may be found most of the best
varieties from the Smyrna district of Asia Minor, many from Greece,
Italy, and the islands of the Mediterranean, and especially from the
States of northern Africa, besides a host of seedlings of American
origin.
Probably every Smyrna fig grower has observed the difference
that exists in the ability of different varieties of caprifigs to carry
through the winter crop. Many kinds never produce a winter crop,
though they generally yield the spring or profichi crop in great
abundance. Still others produce so few winter figs that they are of
little use in perpetuating the Blastophaga. Some fail to bear a
mammoni (summer) crop, or the figs push at a time that leaves a
hiatus in the successive generations of the insects. Such trees can
not produce a mamme crop unless they have the assistance of better
trees, for it is well known that the mamme figs dry up and fall unless
oviposited in by insects of the mammonigeneration. It is a curious
71807°—18—Bull. 732-2
10 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
fact that the egg of the Blastophaga is just as essential to make the
caprifig hold on and mature as is the pollen to do the same for the
Smyrna fig.. This fact was observed in California by E. A. Schwarz,
of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agri-
culture, as mentioned in the proceedings of the meeting of the
Hntomolonical Society of Washington, D. C., December 6, 1900
(45, p. 503).
Careful investigations extending over a period of several years
indicate that the ability of a tree to support successfully the mamme
crop through the winter is more a question of variety than of climate.
Several instances are known where in the frosty portions of the San
Fig. 5.—The Samuel Gates Milco Sane tree, 10 miles west of Modesto, Cal., which has carried the
Blastophaga since 1868, unaided by any other tree.
Joaquin Valley, Cal., single isolated trees near Modesto and Lathrop,
unassisted by others in the neighborhood, have carried the different
crops uninterruptedly for more than 40 years (fig. 5). The pos-
session of such trees by the grower is of supreme importance.
THE FIG FLOWERS.
Count H. G. Solms-Laubach and Dr. Paul Mayer, the German
botanists; Olivier, the Frenchman; Gasparrini, Gallesio, and Ponte-
dera, the Italians; and later Dr. Gustav Eisen are all agreed that there
are four kinds of flowers in the fig. It may seem presumptuous to
take exception to these authorities, but it is nevertheless a: fact,
easily demonstrable with the abundant material now accessible in
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 11
California, that there are really but two kinds of fig flowers, namely,
pistillate and staminate, although it may be advisable to separate the
pistillate flowers into two kinds—those of the caprifig, called gall
flowers, and the ordinary flowers of all the female figs. These
authors enumerate the four kinds as the male and female of the
caprifig, the regular female flower of the Smyrna, and lastly the female
flowers of the Adriatic class, which some of them contend have imper-
fect stigmas and can not be pollinated, and therefore call them mule
flowers. Careful investigations by the writer have failed to disclose
such flowers. Pontedera and Gallesio call them fico mula and fico
semimula, a few of the latter being susceptible of pollination and the
former not at all. This idea has become so fixed in the minds of some
horticulturists that they are calling this class of figs ‘‘mule figs,” a
positive misnomer and entirely unwarranted by the facts.
The staminate flowers of the caprifig are arranged in a zone or
cluster at the upper part of the fig, just within the eye. The re-
mainder of the receptacle is filled mith gall flowers which-are perfect
female flowers, the pistils of which are modified for the purposes of
the female Blastophaga. The styles of these flowers are short and
thick compared to those of the Smyrna and other female figs and are
provided with a duct, down which the fig insect pushes her ovi-
positor into the ovary, where she deposits the egg. As evidence that
these are female flowers, careful examination discloses the fact that
these styles are surmounted usually by forked stigmas, the surfaces
of which are provided with the usual cells or glands and the viscous
coating to which the pollen grains adhere. With sufficient magnify-
ing power the pollen tubes can be seen pushing their way from the
surface of the stigma down through the cellular tissue into the ovary.
The gall flowers of all caprifigs are alike except for slight variations
in the shape of the stigmas.
As further evidence that all the gall flowers in the caprifig are per- -
fect female flowers, some of the persistent stigmas from ovaries con-
taining fertile seeds in a mammoni fig and others from galls containing
fully developed Blastophaga in the same fig were placed side by side
under the microscope and were found to be identical in cellular structure
and in every other respect. The writer is therefore satisfied that the
stigmas of the flowers of the mammoni caprifigs are equally as sus-
ceptible to pollination as are those of the female figs, and in fact are
so pollinated, but fail to produce more than a few seeds, for the reason
given in this bulletin under the heading ‘‘Caprifig seeds.”’ (See p. 15.)
FIG POLLINATION.
When the Blastophaga enters the spring crop of the caprifig, the
stamens are in an undeveloped condition and the anthers will not
be ready to discharge their pollen until about two months later—
12 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
that is, at the time when the next generation of insects is ready to
issue. It is, therefore, impossible for a fig to pollinate itself. Here,
then, is a striking instance of one of nature’s metheds of preventing
self-fecundation.
In the regular female flower of the Smyrna fig the style is long
and slim, two or three times longer than the style of the flower of the
caprifig, and this is the reason that it is unsuited for the purpose
of the insect. It is divided at the summit usually into two stigmas,
{
f
; 4
OTT NSS
Fig. 6.—Biastophaga psenes: a, Adult female with wings extended, seen from above; 6, female not yet
entirely issued from pupal skin and still contained in gall; ec, antenna of female: d, head of female f-om
below; eandj, adult males. (Ail greatly enlarged.)
and they appear to be identical with those of the flowers of the
Adriatic class, to whien belong all those figs which reach an edible
condition without pollination. The stigmas or the latter, some
authors say, are mostly malformed and can not be fertilized.
LIFE OF THE BLASTOPHAGA.
The beneficent insect upon which depends absolutely the whole
Smyrna fig industry is a small species of very stiange structure
(figs. 6 and 7). The female, a little less than an eighth of an inch
in length, is black in color, is provided with wings, and in a favorable
wind has been known to fly several miles. The male is wingless, is
amber or brownish yellow in color, and somewhat resembles a small
ij
;
F
Fy
j
+
;
i
;
Mpa»
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. LS
erub. After many unsuccessful attempts, the insect was sent over to
the United States from northern Africa in 1899 by Walter 'T. Swingle,
of the United States Department cof Agriculture. Success was due
to avoiding methods which had previously often failed by confining
the efforts to the winter generation and, by the ingenious device of
wrapping each caprifig in tin foil to prevent evaporation. It was
discovered later, however, that the Blastophaga was already here,
having been accidentally mtroduced with fig trees from southern
Europe about 1865, but this did not become known to orchardists
until 1908, having been, so far as known, confined to an isolated tree
10 miles west of Modesto and one or two others in the vicinity of
Lathrop, Cal. (50, 54).
In California the insect, which hibernates in the larval form
during the previous
few months, reaches
“maturity: in April.
The male leaves the
gall first. He moves
about the interior of
the fig, and, finding a
gall containing a fe-
male, gnaws a _ hole
through the cortex of
- the ovary at the base
of the style and fer-
tilizes the female while
she is still in the gall.
The gravid female en-
larges the opening and Fic. 7.—Blastophaga psenes: a, Egg; b, young larva; c, outline of
some times makes an- says llestrzs)| full-grown larva; e, mouth of full-grown
other, usually at the
base af the style, probably because it is the point of least resistance.
In from 22 to 48 hours she leaves the gali, reaching the open air
through the cluster of male flowers, the anthers of which at this
time have burst and are shedding large quantities of pollen. Her
body is moist and sticky and she is frequently so loaded with pollen
that she is unable to fly until she divests herself of much of it in
thesame way that the common house fly strokes its body with its legs.
After being relieved of part of the load, she flies to the nearest fig,
and if it be in the right condition she immediately seeks the opening
at the apex. At this time the figs are hard and from a quarter to
three-quarters of an inch in diameter and the eye is closed by the
overlapping scales. Some authors assert that with her powerful
mandibles she is obliged to cut away a portion of one of these scales
_ to effect an entrance; but this is unnecessary, as she is able to push
her head under the thin edges and after a struggle of sometimes five
14 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF’ AGRICULTURE.
minutes or more pushes down the zigzag way to the interior of the
fig, generally leaving her wings behind.
While one insect is probably sufficient to fertilize a fig, it is not
unusual where they are very abundant, as at the Maslin ‘orchard
at Loomis, to find a dozen or fifteen in one small fig and as many
more in astruggling mass trying to effect an entrance; often the cluster
of wings can be seen radiating from the eye like the plumes of a
miniature feather duster. If the caprifig from which the insect has
issued has been hung in a Smyrna tree, she enters a Smyrna fig and
then finds she has made a mistake, as the flowers are of such shape
that she can not oviposit in them, and after wandering about in a
vain effort to dispose of her eggs, in this way doing her useful work
of fertilizmg the female flower in most cases she crawls out. When
the weather is warm, say 90° to 100° F., the insects are very active
and come out of the caprifig with a rush. The writer has seen 40
issue in oneminute. The issue takes place almost entirely in the fore-
noon, unless a cold windy morning is succeeded by a hot sun in the
early afternoon, when a considerable number appear. Themovement
depends much upon the weather. During cool windy mornings
very few issue, but if the next morning is warm, calm, and sunny a
great rush occurs. The insects continue to issue from a single fig
for a week or ten days if the weather is favorable, and from the figs
of various capri trees for two to three weeks. After the females
have left the fig most of the males soon follow, and, being wingless,
drop to the ground like the females which have lost their wings
in entering the Smyrna figs.
Every Smyrna fig not entered by the Blastophaga dries up and
falls from the trees. In a few days the caprified fig undergoes a
remarkable change. It begins to increase rapidly in size, becomes
smooth by a lessened prominence of the ribs, and loses its pea-green
color, assuming a decidedly pruinose tinge, this being true also of
_the caprifig.
PROPORTION OF MALE AND FEMALE INSECTS IN CAPRIFIGS.
The writer has taken some pains to determine the proportions of
the sexes of the Blastophaga in caprifigs, and has found from actual
count of the insects of several varieties that the proportion runs from
two-thirds to three-quarters females. The number of galls im good
sound caprifigs, according to size, runs from 500 to 1,600. A
medium-sized mamme caprifig has been found to contain 1,015
heaithy galls; good Milco profichi caprifigs have been found to con-
tain 1,200 to 1,600. After the female insects leave the caprifig most
of them live onty 24 hours, though a very few will be found alive at
the end of 48 hours. It is doubtful whether they eat at all. After
the female has fulfilled the object of her existence, namely, providing
for the future generations of her species, she dies.
pnpipeiiniehantanstieelain=tne seh nee ore
Ne es ana ama eb mae nt hy ge a th i —
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 15
OVIPOSITION BY BLASTOPHAGA.
If the Blastophaga has entered a caprifig, a crop of which should
at the time be in receptive condition, she finds no cuneuly in depos-
iting her eggs. Authors differ as to the technique of the operation.
The German botanist Count H. G. Solms-Laubach says she pushes
cher ovipositor down through the duct in the style and thus places
the egg in the ovary. Dr. Cunningham, the English botanist, in his
memoir on the fertilization of Pieus roxburghi (5), says,. “The depo-
sition must apparently take place, not in the style, but by means of
jena of the upper surface of the ovary.” Another author
says, ‘‘Should the fig entered prove to be a caprifig, she lays as many
egos at the base of as enuyy male flowers as she can find and then
dies.”
Careful investigations by the writer confirm the view of Solms-
Laubach. This view must be correct; otherwise the insect would be
able to oviposit in the Smyrna and other edible figs (which she never
does), and thus give us a collection of insects instead of seeds.
After the insect reaches the interior of the caprifig she moves about
over the mass of stigmas; curving the posterior portion of the abdo-
men under and forward, she thrusts the ovipositor repeatedly down
between the flowers, seeming to be guided entirely by the sense of
feelmg rather than sight. Finally, after eight or ten attempts, she
succeeds in pushing it down through the central duct of the style
and rests for a minute or two while the egg is being ejected.
When the insect 1s wandering over the flowers the ovipositor does
not appear longer than the sheath. This apparently misled Dr.
Cunningham, who states that the ovipositor is too short to reach the
ovary through the style. When an entrance to the style is effected,
the ovipositor is extended, telescopelike, to three times the usual
length, which enables the insect to deposit her egg well down in the
ovary. The style is white and translucent, and as the egg-laying
instrument is yellow or amber colored it is plainly visible with a
microscope of moderate power when pushed down into the ovary.
Within two or three hours after oviposition in a flower the stigma
and style turn brown, rendering it easy by opening a fig to determine
that the work has been well done.
CAPRIFIG SEEDS.
The mammoni crop of the capri tree is the only one which has been
observed to produce seeds, and then only in small numbers. The
obvious reason for the presence of seeds is that this crop is pollinated
by the Blastophaga of the preceding profichi crop. The profichi
crop itself yields no seed, because the mamme figs preceding it have
no viable pollen, although the pistils are provided with receptive
stigmas.
16 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
Gasparrini (17) found 20 seeds in 40 mammoni figs and reached
the conclusion that not more than one flower in 2,000 is a perfect
female flower, all the others being gall sax incapable of fertili-
zation. ‘The writer has found as many as 75 fertile seeds in one fig,
and from a large number of mammoni Bee plants have grown at
the United States Plant Introduction Garden, Chico, Cal. From
careful observations he has been forced to the conclusion that all
gall flowers are perfect female flowers and susceptible of pollination
and that most of them are pollinated, but if the Blastophaga deposits
an egg in the ovary the resulting larva prevents the development
of the ovule and no seed is formed. The seeds therefore found in
the mammoni figs are from those flowers in which the insect failed
to oviposit. |
SEEDS ACCOMPANIED BY SECRETION OF SUGAR.
There seems to be some connection, not yet well understood, be-
tween the seed and the secretion of sugar and colormg matter. The
pedicels and floral envelopes of the seeds in mammoni figs are succu-
lent, sweet, and generally of a pink color, while all parts of the gall
flowers containing Blastophaga are white and quite dry, the difference
in appearance being so marked that the seeds can readily be picked
out with a pair of forceps from the mass of galls by their succulence
and pinkish color.
CAPRIFICATION.
The term caprification is derived from the word capri, the name
_ by which the male or pollen-bearing fig is known, and is applied to
the process of hanging the caprifigs in the Smyrna trees. The details
of the process are somewhat obscure and complicated, and it is not
strange that it is little understood by the public in general, though
known to the inhabitants of Asia Minor more than two thousand
years ago. Theophrastus, who wrote about 350 years before Christ,
describes the process as pr: acticed at that time exactly as it is nara
at the present day in this country.
Undoubtedly the cultivated fig was originally a dicecious species
having about equal numbers of male and female trees. Through cen-
turies of culture, varieties of the female figs have been developed which
will produce fruit without caprification, but such figs never produce
fertile seeds. Figs of the Smyrna type absolutely require fertiliza-
tion to set fruit at all, and such fruits produce an abundance of fertile
seeds, which undoubtedly add to the flavor and quality of the dried
Smyrna figs. In orchard practice it is not necessary to have, as in
the state of nature, approximately one half of the trees male and
the other half female. One or two caprifig trees per acre of fig orch-
ard is sufficient to supply an abundance of caprifigs to fertilize the
whole orchard.
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 17
It is well known that the flowers of the fig are inside the receptacle
‘which becomes the fruit. Caprifig trees look exactly like ordinary
fig trees and bear fruits which look like figs, the only difference being
that instead of producing seeds the caprifigs are fitted with small
galls just about the size of seeds, in which the fig insect develops.
The caprifig differs from the Smyrna and other female figs in having
a cluster of male or staminate flowers just within the eye. As the
Smyrna, unlike common fig varieties, can not reach maturity unless
the flowers are supplied with pollen and the fig can not pollinate
itself, dependence must be had on some outside agency. This agency
is the fig insect (Blastophaga psenes). The spring (profichi) crop of the
capri or male tree is used for this purpose. In California and other
Southwestern States the insects begin to issue in the warm valley
from the 10th to the 20th of June and continue often until wellinto July.
In leaving the fig the female insect passes through the zone of male
flowers, thereby dusting herself all over with the fertilizing pollen,
which she then carries to the young fruits of the Smyrna fig. The
fig insect can live only a few hours outside of the caprifig. In fact,
only a portion of the male insects as a rule leave the caprifig at all,
and the females leave only to deposit eggs for the next generation.
In other words, the fig insect is restricted absolutely to the caprifig
and can breed nowhere else. This means that the caprifig tree must
furnish a succession of generations of fig fruits in which the fig insect
can multiply; that is, as one crop of caprifigs ripens the next crop
must be ready to receive the insect. This proper adjustment of
crops does occur in some few caprifig varieties, but in many others the
adjustment is not so close, as explained elsewhere.
It only remains to state that the fig insect is unable to breed in the
Smyrna fig itself. The fig insect merely carries pollen from the
caprifig fruit and is not able to lay her eggs in the minute flowers
which line the Smyrna fig fruit, because the styles of these flowers
are too long to permit the egg to be placed properly.
Briefly, then, caprification consists in suspending in the Smyrna
fig tree in June a few chaplets or baskets of caprifig fruits of the
spring generation or profichi fruits of the caprifig tree which contain
myriads of minute fig insects (Blastophaga psenes). The minute
winged female insect in issuing from these caprifig fruits becomes _
dusted with pollen, which she carries into the young and receptive
fruits of the Smyrna fig. Once inside the Smyrna fig fruit, the female
insect wanders around trying to find asuitable flower for oviposition.
All she accomplishes is to dust thoroughly the stigmas of the fig
flowers with pollen, thereby insuring the setting and ripening of the
fruit, but she does not succeed in ovipositing in the Smyrna fruit.
No other horticultural industry is so intimately tied up with a
specific insect as is Smyrna fig culture, which is, indeed, absolutely
mpossible without the beneficent help of this minute creature.
71807°—18—Bull. 732 3
18 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
APPLICATION OF CAPRIFIGS TO SMYRNA TREES.
Various methods are employed in suspending caprifigs in the
Smyrna trees. The figs may be strung on strings or raffia by means
of a coarse needle into which the string is-threaded. These chaplets
of four or five figs each are then suspended in the Stnyrna branches,
preferably in the shady parts of the tree. Another method is to put
the caprifigs into cornucopia-shaped baskets made of coarse galvan-
ized-wire cloth. These baskets may be used year after year, or may
~ even be left suspended in the trees.
Some experienced growers find that it pays to suspend small pans
filled with moist sand in the trees, into which the caprifigs are pushed,
stem down, two-thirds of their length. This prevents the fig from
drying out and permits all the Blastophaga to escape.
WHEN SMYRNA FIGS ARE RECEPTIVE.
Smyrna figs are in a receptive condition from the time they are the
size of filberts to that of sma!l walnuts, say from five-eighths of an
inch to about an inch in diameter. At this time the fig is glossy, with
prominent ribs. Soon after caprification it becomes smooth and loses
its gloss. (See fig. 8.) On cutting open such a fig a few hours after
it has been entered by the insect the styles and stigmas of the flowers
will be observed to have turned brown from injury caused by the
Blastophaga. The best evidence, however, to indicate that the fig
has been entered by the insect is the presence at the eye of the wings
which have been left behind in effecting the entrance. These will be
visible for a day or more it the weather is not windy.
SEVERAL APPLICATIONS OF CAPRIFIGS ADVANTAGEOUS.
Dr. Eisen has shown that a number of applications of caprifigs to
each tree greatly increases the crop, for the reason that when the
caprifigs are first hung in a Smyrna tree only a part of the figs arein a
receptive condition. In warm weather these caprifigs are exhausted
of most of the insects in four or five days. Meantime, otherSmyrna
figs have pushed and have reached a receptive condition, and another . ©
supply of caprifigs at this time will be required for their pollination. _
Three or four such applications four or five days apart will be found
to increase greatly the setting of fruit. As the Smyrna crop depends
absolutely upon the supply of insects it is found that a liberal applica-
tion of caprifigs is desirable. For trees 4 to 6 years of age, 10 or 12
figs for each will be found sufficient, while for trees from 8 to 12 years
old the number should be doubled. One experienced grower in the
San Joaquin Valley, whose trees are about 12 years of age, informs
the writer that he greatly increases his crop by applying as many as
50 to 150 caprifigs to each tree.
RRR ee Ae At oy cata dirpelitiguntdiiiceiatinns
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 19
CAPRIFICATION NOT AN EXPENSIVE OPERATION.
Occasionally fig growers raise objection to thecultivation of Smyrna
figs on account of the trouble of caprification, but as there is no other
way of raising them the grower must submit to the slight handicap
if he wishes to produce dried figs of high quality. It has been found
from experience that one man can caprify about 40 acres. His time
will be consumed for a period of about three weeks. Mr. George C.
Roeding, of Fresno, Cal., says that the cost of the work in his large
orchard does not exceed 2 cents per tree, or from $1 to $1.50 per acre.
Fig. 8.—Change in appearance of figs due to caprification. ‘Two caprified figs are
shown on the left, three uncaprified ones on the right.
WHEN TO GATHER PROFICHI CAPRIFIGS.
The proper condition for gathering profichi caprifigs 1s easily ascer-
tained by opening a few figs and looking for the appearance of the
male, as previously mentioned, but is readily indicated by a slight
softening of the fig.
Experience has developed some methods of handling profichi figs
that are worth mentioning. The spring generation of Blastophaga
commences to issue from about the tenth of June to the first week in
July, the time depending upon the locality and the weather, warm
20 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
weather hastening development and cool weather retarding it. At
this time the weather is very warm in the great valley of California.
If large quantities of figs are to be gathered, a considerable saving is
effected with no harm to the insect by letting them fall to the ground
when detached from the branches, but the figs must not be allowed
to remain on the hot ground in the sun longer than a few minutes.
With a temperature of 90° F. many insects will be killed in half an
hour, and most of them in an hour. In an hour and a half every one
of them will have succumbed. ‘The figs in the shade of the tree or
those attached to the branches are not affected except at very much
higher temperatures. It is therefore necessary to pick up the figs
from the ground about as fast as they are thrown down by the men in
the trees.
CAPRIFICATION OF COMMON FIGS.
To show how erroneous is the conclusion of some authors that the
pistillate flowers of the Adriatic class of figs are malformed and can
not be pollinated, it may be mentioned that the writer by applying
the Blastophaga to the so-called ‘‘mule” figs of more than 50 varieties
found that in every instance heavy fertile seeds were produced and
in as large proportion as in the Smyrna fig. From these seeds, thou-
sands of plants have been grown at the United States Plant Intro-
duction Garden, Chico, Cal. From such cross-pollinated seeds some
interesting and valuable varieties are being secured. The breeder
does not have long to wait for results, since most of the seedlings bear
fruit at the age of 2 and 3 years.
A striking instance of the fertilization of common figs occurred at
Loomis, Cal., where Mr. Andrew Ryder, a prominent fruit grower, had
grafted a portion of an Adriatic tree with Smyrna scions. The
Smyrna set quantities of fruit, and wishing to secure a crop the owner
hung in the tree caprifigs containing Blastophaga ready to issue.
Some of the insects entered the Adriatic figs on the ungrafted part of
the tree. The writer secured three mature Adriatic figs which showed
by their abnormally large size that they had been entered by the
insects. These three figs contained by actual count 4,800 heavy fertile
seeds, or an average of 1,600 for each fig—certainly a good crop for a
“mule” fig which, according to some writers, will not breed.
Experience is showing that the time may come when it will be
worth while to caprify all of the common figs, that is, those varieties
which otherwise reach an edible condition without pollination. A
caprified fig is a more nearly perfect fruit than an uncaprified one.
The fruit is considerably increased in size, and the seeds contain ©
plump kernels which give a delicious nutty flavor, not apparent in
uncaprified figs. Dr. Eisen was the first investigator to make the
suggestion.
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. ai
CAPRIFIG PLANTATIONS.
‘As the caprifig crop occasionally suffers from frost in the flat
regions of the great valley, it is suggested that the fig growers of a
locality combine and plant a caprifig orchard of a few acres in some
frost-free foothill region. In this way the cooperators would insure
themselves a steady supply of caprifigs at little cost.
All Smyrna fig growers appreciate the fact that there would be con-
siderable advantage if caprifigs containing the insect could be had
for a period of a month or six weeks, thereby insuring the pollinizing
of more figs and an increase in the crops. With our present varieties
of caprifig trees the caprifying season covers a period of only about
three weeks. The only way by which this period can be extended with
capri varieties now cultivated seems to be by planting the capri trees
in cool localities where the proximity of the sea or other influences
retard the ripening of the figs and the development of the Blastophaga.
In such localities as Loomis, Fresno, Indio, and Mecca, Cal., and
Phoenix, Ariz., the insects from the profichi crop begin to issue from
about the 10th to the 20th of June, while in localities within the influ-
ence of the ocean breezes, such as the cooler portions of Sacramento and
San Joaquin Counties, the period of issue is a week or ten days later,
and at Niles, Alameda County, Cal., on the eastern shore of San
Francisco Bay, the time of issue is as late as July 25 or the begin-
ning of August. A cooperative caprifig orchard could be so located
as to supply the Smyrna fig growers with pollinizing material for the
latest figs that could ripen before the advent of the fall rains.’
THE SEEDLING FIG ORCHARD AT LOOMIS, CAL.
Back in 1886, while a spirited discussion regarding the necessities of
_caprification was going on in California, E. W. Maslin, then of Loomis,
Cal., sent to.H. K. Thurber, a leading importing merchant of New
York City, for a box of the finest imported Smyrna figs. The seeds
_ of these figs were planted by the gardener at the State Capitol, Sac-
ramento. The resulting seedlings were planted by Mr. Maslin on his
ranch at Loomis in 1887. These trees grew thriftily and in the
course of three or four years began to set fruit, nearly all of which
failed to mature for lack of pollination, the fertilizing insect, Blas-
tophaga, not then having been introduced into that part of the State.
The Blastophaga were first colonized on George C. Roeding’s trees
at Fresno, and in the following year, 1901, they were established in
the Maslin orchard, at Loomis, where the trees matured fruit for the
first time. The fruiting of the trees demonstrated that about half of
them were caprifigs and the other half of the female or edible type.
This result was naturally to be expected, as the Smyrna fig is the
female form of a dicecious species.
1 This would be a desirable undertaking for an association of fig growers, such as was formed at the Fig
Institute at Fresno, Cal., January 4 and 5, 1918.
22 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
From this time a careful study of the trees and product was made,
with the result that a number of new varieties of decided promise were
found. ‘Two of a new Smyrna class were discovered in 1908 by A. H.
Brydges. These attracted attention from the fact that the fruit
withstood uninjured two soaking rains which spoiled that on adjoin-
ing trees. The preservation of the fruit under these trying circum-
stances was due to the fact that the eye of the majority of the fruits
is stopped by a drop of hardened, pellucid juice which effectually
excludes rain, filth, beetles, and flies which might carry into the fig
the germs of fermentation. This prevents souring, and it also pre-
vents the entrance of insects which deposit eggs resulting in wormy
figs. (See ‘‘ Descriptions of varieties,’ pp. 36-37, Rixford variety.)
The Maslin fig orchard has played an important part in the develop-
ment of the fig industry in California. At the fruit-growers’ con-
vention, at Stockton, in December, 1910, reports were current that a
number of fig growers in the San Joaquin Valley were digging up
their bearmg Smyrna trees, owing to the difficulty of obtaining
caprifigs containing Blastophaga to pollinate their fruit. Walter T.
Swingle and the writer proceeded to Ceres, where most of the
destruction of trees had occurred, and called a meeting of growers
who could be quickly reached by telephone. There were 12 or
13 growers present, who were admonished not to destroy any more
trees, as the United States Department of Agriculture had taken
a lease on the Masln orchard, containing 72 capri trees, and would
furnish the entire crop to the growers at the bare cost of gathering
and shipping the fruit, namely, 50 cents per box containing 160 to
175 figs. The growers next season availed themselves of the oppor-
tunity to the extent of over 600 boxes, 96,000 figs, with the result
that no more fig trees were destroyed. In addition to devoting the
entire crop of caprifigs of the orchard to the growers, cuttings from
the best trees. were offered gratis to anyone who desired to avail
himself of the privilege. Besides several fine Smyrna varieties, the
orchard contains several of the finest capri varieties in cultivation. , Of
the capri varieties, several bear the largest caprifigs ever seen in this
country, with correspondingly large numbers of Blastophaga from
the ample gall zones and having large staminate clusters with
abundance of pollen. They possess, besides, a vigor and _ hardi-
ness that has never failed to carry the mamme crop safely through
the hardest frosts of California winters. Detailed descriptions of
these will be found in another part of this bulletin.
HARVESTING AND CURING.
The fig ripens and dries on the tree and when it falls all of the small
and medium-sized fruits are sufficiently cured to keep, while those
of large size require further exposure to the sun for a day or two,
te er a
oh es ee
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 2
either on the ground or on wooden platforms. In some respects the
normal climate of the great interior valley of California is superior
to that of Asia Minor, where summer dews are prevalent and fall
rains sometimes injure the crop.
It is a good practice to gather the figs very often, say two or three
times a week. One successful grower who puts up an exceedingly
fine product gathers the figs every day. One reason for this is that
the eye of a caprified fig is usually quite open and the longer it remains
on the ground the more likely it is to be visited by beetles that leave
- eggs inside the fig, causing a wormy product.
Sulphuring is not necessary to improve the appearance of Smyrna
figs, as it is for the Adriatics and some other varieties. Some
: P30025A—CP. .
Fig. 9.—Drying grounds at Fresno, Cal. In the foreground figs are being dried on platforms, while to
the left are stacks of trays already dried.
growers think that spreading the figs out on trays and stacking
them so as to keep them out of the direct rays of the sun to finish up
the drying makes them lighter colored.
The first operation after the figs are cathered from the ground is
to rinse them in clear water and spread them out on wooden plat-
forms, such as are used for drying raisins, until the surplus moisture
has evaporated (fig. 9). They are then dumped into boxes. In the
raisin region sweat boxes are used for the purpose. They should be
pressed down into a solid mass and should remain in that condition
until ready to be packed or sold to the packer. The product is thereby
greatly improved, as’ the overdried fig absorbs moisture from the
underdried, thus equalizing the whole mass. This process also
causes the skin of the fig to absorb moisture and sugar from the
interior pulp and this renders it pliable and tender.
24 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
PACKING FIGS.
Most growers pack the figs in clean cotton bags, in which con-
dition they are sold to the packers, but others find they can add
several cents per pound to the value of the product by doing their
own packing. Many figs are packed in 5-pound and 10-pound
boxes and many more in fancy cartons holding from one-half to 1
pound each. The expense of fitting up a packing house is inconsider-
able, the appliances required being a kettle set in a furnace for heat-
ing boiling water or brine, forms for packing the figs in half-pound
or 1-pound bricks, and a press to apply pressure to the packed
product. The bricks which go into the cartons are wrapped in waxed
paper, which tends to retard drying out.
P80025B—CP.
Fig. 10.—Processing house. The dipping vat is shown in the center.
The packing operations begin by exposing the figs to boiling brine
for a minute or two in wire baskets or by means of a prune dipper
where it is done on a very large scale (fig. 10). The brine is made
with from 3 to 4 ounces of salt to the gallon of water. Care should
be taken not to make the brine so salt as to be apparent to the taste
in eating the fig. The object of the process is to destroy by heat the
egos of any insect that may have entered the fig while it was lying
on the ground and also to help retain the moisture and prevent dry-
ing out, as it is well known that salt absorbs moisture to some extent.
Some growers put their figs through a sizing machine at a certain
stage of the work, separating the fruit into about three grades. The
smaller and also any defective fruit, including split figs, finds a
ready market ordinarily at 2 to 4 cents a pound, and is used by
manufacturers of pastry products.
see, Be mB Ne Somer al
“ = Aas. Pree
De "a ET
‘a3 >
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. SHS)
The medium and large fruits are packed by themselves, making
two to three grades with names to suit the fancy of the packers.
Those intended for ornamental cartons are flattened out between
the fingers of the operator, the eye end is turned under and then the
fig is split from apex to stem and spread out to the width of the
form in which the brick is packed, being arranged in layers until the
form is filled. The bricks are put under the press and thus compacted
into a solid block. These blocks or bricks are wrapped in wax paper
and placed in fancy cartons upon which the producer’s name or
brand is embossed or are packed in layers in 5-pound and 10-pound
wooden boxes. |
_ Another style of packing, called “lacoum” in Smyrna, in which
- each fig is pressed by hand into a square shape and then packed into
rows in the cartons, is described and illustrated in Dr. Kisen’s bulle-
tin (11). }
SHIPPING FRESH FIGS.
The consumption of fresh or undried figs in the city markets is
building up a trade of considerableimportance. The large populations,
especially of peoples from southern Europe, who count the fruit in
this condition as an almost indispensable luxury, have all brought
to this country their liking for fresh figs, which demands that fruit
growers cater to this trade. The Smyrna fig is so superior to the
common varieties that when the supply is sufficient at reasonable
prices, the markets.can take large quantities of the fruit in this form.
Only the choicest fully mature specimens of uniform size should
be shipped. Such fruit appeals toeverybody. The usual method of
packing now in-use is in wooden boxes about 12 by 16 inches in size
and corresponding in depth to the size of the largest figs, halding about
8 pounds. «The fruit carries best when packed in a single layer, the
boxes being lined with white paper and the rows of figs separated
by strips of the same. No doubt egg boxes, in which each fruit
would be out of contact with its neighbor, would be ideal carriers.
If a plan not too expensive could be devised by which ripe figs
could be laid down in eastern cities, a large trade in Smyrna figs
could be built up. Experiments have been made which have met
with some success. A shipment of 50 boxes sent from Ceres, Cal., in
- an iced fruit car was sold readily in Chicago at 20 cents a pound. A
smaller lot, shipped in a pony refrigerator from Indio, Cal., reached
New York City in perfect condition and brought $4.62 per 1-layer
box of 7 or 8 pounds. In each case the consignee asked for more.
~The best results were had with the pony refrigerators, but the cost
of express charges on the pony and the necessary weight of ice are
almost prohibitory. Fresh Smyrna figs are so much superior to
any ever seen in eastern cities that they would meet with an active —
demand at reasonable or even high prices. Here, then, is a field
26 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
that ought to engage the attention of experimenters, not only in the
Southwest, but also in the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast States.
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
Many varieties of Adriatic figs are already successfully cultivated
throughout the great coastal plain from Texas to the Carolinas, chiefly
for home consumption, canning, and preserving. The home fruit gar-
den usually contains a few thrifty trees, which provide for the owner
liberalsupplies of fresh figs from the middle of July to well into Septem-
ber. The varieties now in most general cultivation are Celeste, Magno-
lia, Ischia, Brunswick, and Brown Turkey. The first mentioned is the
favorite in Louisiana, especially in the neighborhood of New Orleans.
The Smyrna fig on the Pacific coast is equally as frost resistant as
any of the varieties mentioned. In fact, some of the oldest and
largest fig trees seen by the writer in the Southern States are of the
Smyrna type. These trees, it is surmised, are accidental seedlings
from imported Smyrna figs and include the capri, or staminate, as
well as the Smyrna, or pistillate, trees, located at various widely
separated points. Through the lack of fig insects to pollinate their
fruits no crop is ever secured from such scattered Smyrna trees, the
figs dropping when about half grown. On this account, Prof. Reimer
(39), of the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, advised
that all such seedlings in North Carolina be cut down and replaced
by varieties that do not require caprification. A caprifig tree was
discovered and identified in the business section of San Antonio,
Tex., through the assistance of E. B. Pauly. Other old Smyrna fig
trees were located with the assistance. of George E. Murrell, the
horticulturist of a railway company. Prof. Boudousquie, of Spring
Hill College, Mobile, Ala., has half a dozen capri trees, 6 years old, at
Battles Wharf, on the east shore of Mobile Bay. Capt. Lawrence,
at Fairhope, in the same neighborhood, has grown Smyrna figs with
varying success for several years by using caprifigs containing ferti-
lizing insects, these caprifigs being sent to him from California, but
has not eed in establishing a colony of Blastophaga on his
capri tree, perhaps because it is not of a good variety.
On Damien Island several old fig trees 8 to 10 inches in diameter
had suffered severely from a hurricane at the time the writer exam-
ined them, but showed no injury from frost. To the warm waters of
the Gulf of Mexico is due the immunity of the locality from frost.
At Brunswick, Ga., a large capri tree was found at the home of
Mrs. L. M. Russell: The tree is supposed to be 18 years old. It is
5 feet in circumference 6 feet from the ground and has a spread of
35 to 40 feet. At Savannah a large Smyrna fig tree was discovered
on the premises of Mrs. S. D. Richards. This tree has a trunk 10
inches in diameter. Capt. S. G. Stoney, president of the Charleston
County Agricultural Society, C. F. Nevins, and M. L. Bissell rendered
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 27
valuable assistance in locating these trees. At Augusta, Ga., R. C.
Berckmans is growing many varieties of figs and was able to give the
writer much valuable information on the subject. From these in- <
vestigations it is apparent that there exists no climatic obstacle to
the growing of Smyrna figs in the Southern States.
Besides ascertaining the climatic fitness for the successful growth
of Smyrna trees, a further important step looking to successful Smyrna
fic culture has been taken. Colonies of the fig insect have been
established at two points in the South. A eallener was established in
the old capri tree at San Antonio, Tex., in 1917, and in two trees at
Brunswick, Ga. The insects sent in snp from the Department
of Agriculture’s orchard at Loomis, Cal., were placed in the San
Antonio tree by E. B. Pauly, where they established themselves and
seemed to thrive in spite of a fall m temperature to 25° F.; but later °
a drop to 13° F. exterminated the whole colony. The capri trees at
Brunswick, Ga., belonging to Mrs. L. M. Russell and George H. Cook
carried their crop through the winter of 1917-18 without injury, and
the fig insects entered the spring crop of caprifigs, causing a full set-
ting of fruit. Mrs. Russell sent a few of her figs to San Antonio and
reestablished the colony on the old tree at that point.t
A serious obstacle to the fig industry in the South is the prevalence
of wet weather during the ripening period, causing most varieties to
sour and also preventing the fruit from drying on the trees, as it
does everywhere in California.
Sufficient evidence has been accumulated as to the possibility of
Smyrna fig culture in the Southern States to justify experimenting
with this type of fig. Even if the crop can:not be dried without
artificial heat, it is probable that owing to its greater sugar content
the Smyrna fig will resist. the tendency to sour and for this reason
wil prove to be suitable for shipping in a fresh state to the northern
and other city markets.
It should be borne in mind, however, ‘thet success. in erowing
Smyrna figs is absolutely dependent upon the presence of caprifig
trees colonized with the fig insect. Until it has been demonstrated
that the insect can be carried successfully through several seasons it
will not be advisable to undertake commercial plantings of figs of the
Smyrna type. There are, however, many scattered chance seedlings
of the Smyrna type already in existence the fruit of which now goes
to waste. Experiments should be conducted in caprifying their crops
if female trees or in establishing the fig insect in them if they hap-
pen to be caprifigs. The summer or main crop of edible figs of the
_ Smyrna type should be setting in late May or early June, when they
are ready for caprification; the profichi or main crop of the caprifig tree
should be setting in March, when the fig insects may best be introduced.
1 Caprifigs from the Russell tree at Brunswick p.aced in the Richards tree at Savannah (Smyrna type) on
June 1, 1918, caused a large crop of excellent figs to mature, the first fruits ever secured from this old tree.
28 BULLETIN 732, U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
STARTING. A SMYRNA FIG ORCHARD.
In starting a fig orchard the selection of the best varieties adapted
to the locality is a matter of supreme importance. It can not be too
strongly impressed upon the beginner that his main dependence in
planting the orchard should be upon the Lob Ingir, the standard
Smyrna fig of the world and thevariety universally grown commercially
in the Meander Valley of Asia Minor. (See fig. 1.) Sometimes
planters are advised to put out the Adriatic, under the mistaken idea
that it is a heavier bearer than the former. Experience has demon-
strated that if the Smyrna is liberally supplied with caprifigs the
Fig. 11.—A fig tree of the Stanford variety. The fruit does not split in ripening, asin the case of
other figs, and it ripens about two weeks earlier than that of the Lob Ingir.
reverse is the case. “The eastern cities are flooded with the inferior
Adriatic figs, the repulsive acid taste of which, derived from the
sulphur used in bleaching, is giving California dried figs a bad repu-
tation. Shippers should realize that they are doing irreparable injury
to the fig trade by putting this inferior fruit upon the market. It
must be apparent to anyone who has sampled the Adriatic fruit now
found in quantities in the eastern cities that a great fig trade which
will successfully compete with the imported Smyrna fruit can not be
built up with this inferior Adriatic fruit.
If the planter desires to experiment in a small way, some of the |
varieties described in another part of this bulletin may be tried.
4q
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SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. ! 29
Perhaps among these the Stanford variety (fig. 11), on account of its
earliness and nonsplitting character when ripening, is one of the most
eee.
Almost any grower of Lob Ingir figs in California can supply cuttings
at a nominal rate when pruning his trees. This enables a fig orchard
to be started at a very small cost; though, if preferred, trees can now
be obtained from most nurserymen.
One of the indispensable requirements of successful Smyrna fig
growing is a carefully selected assortment of capri trees. Since the
undertaking is absolutely dependent on the Blastophaga, it is evident
that varieties must be selected that experience has shown are capable
Fic. 12.—The original Milco caprifig tree, Niles, Cal.
of sustaining all three caprifig crops and all three generations of the
fertilizing insects.
The first consideration is to secure capri varieties which never fail
to carry a good winter (mamme) crop in spite of frosts and adverse
conditions. This insures insects for an abundant spring (profichi)
crop and must be followed by a good summer (mammoni) crop. As
an abundant supply of good caprifigs at the proper season is the
ultimate object of the capri plantation, four or five of the best kinds
should be planted at the rate of two good trees to each acre of
Smyrnas. In this list the grower can not be too earnestly urged to
include the Milco caprifig, which has proved itself to be one of the
best to carry all the crops of the caprifig to perfection (fig. 12).
30 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
Sometimes it is thought advisable to plant capri varieties first, for
the reason that they usually fail to carry the mamme crop through the
winter until they have reached the age of 4 or 5 years. As the capri
trees produce the other two crops as early as the Smyrna, the diffi-
culty may be avoided by securing from older orchards mamme capri-
figs early in April to caprify the spring crop of the capri trees, thus
providing a supply of profichi for caprifying the Smyrna crop of the
young trees.
MAKING AND ROOTING CUTTINGS.
A fig orchard may be started by planting cuttings directly where
the future trees are to stand, as is done in Asia Minor, but the almost
universal practice in California is to plant the cuttings in nursery rows
where they can be supplied with the necessary moisture until rooted.
Cuttings taken from terminal branches and about 10 to 12 inches in
length are preferable. In taking the cutting it should be cut through
a node rather than between nodes, for the reason that between the
nodes the pith is quite large and when planted leaves a hole in the
bottom of the tree, while at the node the stem is solid.
In putting out the cuttings in the dry climate of California and
other Southwestern States it is important that they be planted deeply,
leaving not more than half an inch above the surface. If any large
preportion of the cutting projects above the ground, the evaporation
from the bark is such that the absorption below, there being no roots,
will be insufficient to supply the loss of moisture and many of ae
cuttings will die.
The trees should. be planted not less than 30 feet apart, and at the
time of planting should be cut down to within about 2 feet of the
surface. The ground should be plowed deeply and well pulverized,
and if any hardpan exists it should be loosened by exploding a half
stick of dynamite where each tree is to stand. The trees should be
liberally irrigated until they are well established, but irrigation should
not be continued later than the beginning of August. Anything that
tends to keep up the circulation of the sap, preventing the wood from
thoroughly ripening, renders the young trees lable to injury by frost.
Smyrna fig trees will give a few figs the third year. The fourth
year, if they do well, should furnish a crop that will pay ali the ex-
penses of cultivation. From that time on, the crop and profits will
increase for a generation.
ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE.
The fig endures about the same degree of cold as the olive. If not
long continued, a minimum of 12° to 14° F. above zero is not injur-
ious to mature trees, but this appears to be about the limit. Young
trees if in a succulent condition would be badly set back if not killed
at such temperatures. The cultivated fig (Ficus carica) deltghts in a
dry, warm climate, but thrives also ia a moist one, but not in the
¥
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SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. on
moist Tropics. The Smyrna fig, by far the best type in cultivation,
is more exacting than the Adriatic class in the relation between cli-
mate and fruit production, as its crop of fruit is absolutely dependent
en the fertilizing insect (Blastophaga psenes) and its culture on a com-
mercial scale is therefore confined at present to regions where the
winters are sufficiently mild to permit the mamme or winter insect-
bearing crop to live through without injury.
While figs for fresh consumption can be grown successfully in
moist and cool coastal regions, fig drying can be successfully carried
on only in regions where the weather from the end of August and con-
tinuing through September and October is sufficiently warm to ripen
the crop. This season of the year should be free from rains. A
great commercial industry will always be confined to the production
of dried figs; therefore, at this season of the year dry, sunny weather
is indispensable. ,
PRESERVING MAMME CAPRIFIGS.
The discovery was made a few years ago by Henry Markarian, of
Fresno, Cal., that mamme caprifigs gathered in December before the
advent of severe frosts and packed in layers in damp sand or damp
sphagnum moss and placed in outhouses or cellars where they may be
protected from excessive cold can in this way be carried through the
season of cold weather. It appears that the figs contain sufficient latex
and the ovaries sufficient protoplasmic matter to feed and develop
the insect to maturity, and all that is required is moisture enough
in the packing material to prevent drying out. It is found that the
insects reach maturity about the same time as those left on the tree.
Repeated experiments by the writer have shown that the period
of issue can be regulated to a considerable extent by adjusting the
temperature of the room or building where the figs are kept. A
slight increase in the temperature hastens the development, and a
corresponding lowering of the temperature retardsit. In one instance
figs were gathered on December 19, and the insects began to issue
early in April. Some of these figs were sent from San Francisco to a
location in southern Texas. The receiver reported the arrival of the
figs in good condition and the insects began to issue on April 13 and
entered the figs of his profichi crop. From these experiments it is
evident that detached caprifigs can be successfully carried through
winters in storage where the temperature is so low that the figs on the
trees might be destroyed, thus making it possible to grow Smyrna
figs in regions where frosts would otherwise interfere with success.
SOIL REQUIREMENTS.
The soil requirements of the fig are less exacting than those of
climate. The size and quality of the fruit, however, are affected to a
considerable extent by the character of the land on which it is grown.
o2 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
Some varieties, like the Mission, seem to thrive on almost any kind of
soil from light sand to heavy adobe. It is pretty well settled, how-
ever, that the best Smyrna figs are grown on quite heavy soil rather
than light sand. The water requirements of the fig are less than
those of most other fruit trees. Still, it demands above all well-
drained land and some irrigation. It does not succeed, for instance,
on land where the Bartlett pear thrives. Next to a well-drained,
compact loam, a rich sandy loam is best, and a good dressing of stable
manure will always repay the cost of application in the increased size
of the fruit. A good percentage of lime in the soil is important.
Some growers contend that lime reduces nematode infestation to a
considerable degree.
CULTIVATION AND IRRIGATION.
The fig tree responds to good care and culture as readily as any
other fruit tree. The orchard should be cultivated after every irri-
gation, and toward the end of the season it is well to have the ground
under the trees mellow in order to avoid a hard surface upon which ~_
the ripe figs fall. Many orchards in California, especially on deep
bottom land, produce good crops entirely without irrigation, while on
shallower soil a good supply of water is necessary. A prominent
grower at Fresno says that he raises large crops by a heavy irrigation
in May or the beginning of June and another when caprifying at the
end of June.
PRUNING.
The fig requires less pruning than any other fruit tree. After setting
and cutting back to about 2 feet from the ground the aim should be to —
produce an open, symmetrical top, so as to admit plenty of sunshine
and at the same time shade the trunk to prevent sunburn; still the
branches are to be kept up out of the way of the cultivators. Many
planters use tree protectors to shade the trunk until the tree top
offers the necessary shade. In the beginning the top should be
started with three or four branches, which are to be the framework
of the future tree. The after treatment will require little more than
the removal of chafing branches and the suckers which start from the
ground at the base of the trunk. The main idea to be kept in mind
is that the ripening crop requires plenty of air and sunshine.
GRAFTING.
Occasionally it will be found convenient or advisable to change
inferior varieties to Smyrnas by grafting. Any of the ordinary
methods employed on other fruit trees can be used. The only pomt
of importance is always to use for scions 2-year-old wood. It may
be from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch in diameter. If 1-year-
old wood is used, not more than one-fourth to one-third of the grafts
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. BiB)
will grow, while if 2-year-old wood is used and the work carefully
done 95 per cent of them will grow. This is the experience of A. H.
Brydges, a skillful horticulturist and caretaker of the demonstration —
fiz orchard of the Department of Agriculture at Loomis, Cal.
Experienced fig growers are now thoroughly convinced of the supe-
riority of Smyrna figs over any other kind as a profitable crop, and in
many places they are grafting over their Adriatic trees to Smyrnas,
thus about doubling the value of the product. If the tree to be
changed, is large, it is best to take two years for the work, as to
remove the whole top in one season often proves too much of a shock
to the parent tree. If the grafts do well, they will produce some
figs the second, year.
FREEDOM FROM DISEASES AND INSECT PESTS.
The fig possesses several advantages over other deciduous fruit
trees. One is that little thinning is required to produce large-sized
fruit, as is necessary with peaches, apricots, etc., since the size of the
crop can be regulated by the number of caprifigs applied. The crop
is never cut off by late spring frosts, for the reason that it pushes
long after the last frosts occur. Up to the present time the fig tree
in California has also been virtually free from insect pests and dis-
eases, so that spraying has never been necessary. :
A few cases of fungus on Adriatic and Mission trees have been
reported, but they are not regarded as serious. A blackish smut or
_ fungus sometimes is found in dried figs. Its appearance is not unlike
the smut in cereals, and it can usually be detected by a discoloration
of the skin. It may also be detected when no outward discoloration
occurs by squeezing the figs, which ruptures the inclosng membrane
and forces out the spores in a dark dusthke powder. As the spores
are blown about by the wind, it is important that all affected figs be
immediately destroyed by burning or depositing them in a receptacle
containing a weak solution of formalin or corrosive sublimate, or
even hot water. All refuse figs and trash from the orchard should be
cleaned up and burned. |
Large fig-eating beetles, known as June bugs, are troublesome in
parts of Arizona, but have not been observed in California. Nema-
todes, minute worms infesting the roots, are found in many localities,
but as yet they have not become a serious pest.
A small spotted beetle (Carpophilus hemiplerus) works in souring
and fermenting figs, prunes, etc., and is really a packing-house insect.
The little fly which frequents souring figs is the well-known vinegar
fly. These insects can be abated to a considerable extent by cleaning
up and burning the refuse leaves and decaying fruit from the orchard.
4 BULLETIN 132, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
THE SPLITTING OF FIGS.
In certain seasons a few of the ripening figs split upon the tree.
While this is an injury to some extent, it is not a very serious one.
There seems to be a difference of opinion as to the cause. Some
growers are firmly of the opinion that it is caused by too many
Blastophagas, or, in other words, by overpollination; others think
that it is due to too much irrigation. The writer, however, is con-
vineed that these are not the principal causes, but that the cause is
principally climatic. If damp weather, not necessarily rain, occurs
during the ripening period, it seems to stimulate the circulation of
the sap and gorges the fruit with juice until the pressure is such that
the tender skin fails to resist and the fig splits open. If, however,
this period of dampness is followed by warm, sunny weather, such
fies dry without souring, the split closes up, sand they are nendil dis-
posed of at 2 to 4 cents per pound, which pays for cathering and caring
for them. The proportion of figs that split sue exceeds 25 per
cent; nearly always the proportion is much less.
Trees have been observed standing on the banks of irrigating
ditches where the supply of moisture was continuous and showing
less split figs than trees in the same orchard that received only
occasional irrigation. It appears that when the ground has become
too dry and water is then applied a stimulation in the circulation of
the sap is caused and is almost invariably followed by more or less
splitting, while if the supply of moisture has been continuous few, if
any, splits occur. The splitting of oranges and prunes is attributed
by many to the same cause.
FIG BREEDING.
Fertile seeds can be secured from all kinds of our cultivated figs
by caprification and the breeder can readily perpetuate by vegetative
propagation desirable hereditary characteristics in his seedling trees.
It has been found from experience, however, that about one-half of
such seedlings are capri or staminate trees. The process is exceed-
ingly simple. A twig is selected with a number of figs from three-
eighths to three-quarters of an inch in diameter (the receptive size
in most varieties) which have not been entered by the insects. Drop
into a paper bag a caprifig with Blastophaga ready to issue and tie
it tightly over the twig, and the insects will do the rest. At the end
of two or three weeks remove the paper bag and replace it with one
of mosquito netting for protection against birds and to piovert the
ripe dried fig from falling to the prone. :
DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIETIES.
For the purposes of this bulletin it is deemed sufficient to describe
those Smyrna fig varieties that are, promising or have already
assumed importance in the fig Industry. Of the hundred or more
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SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. : 30
caprifig varieties, either imported or originated from seed in this
country, it is deemed sufficient to describe only those which from
their desirable qualities are of permanent interest to Smyrna fig
erowers. Dr. Eisen (11) describes briefly 20 of the Smyrna fig and
-eaprifig varieties. These descriptions, as well as those by George C.
Roeding, have been drawn upon to a considerable extent, while those
of seedling varieties which have originated in California are from the
studies of the writer at the Loomis orchard and other localities where
these varieties are in cultivation. The attempt is made in the descrip-
tions, when practicable, to give sufficient details to enable the reader
to identify the variety.
SMYRNA VARIETIES.
Lob Ingir.—The Lob Ingir (fig. 1) known also as Erbeyli, Calimyrna, etc., is the
ereat commercial fig of the Meander Valley, Asia Minor, commonly called Smyrna,
after the port from which it is exported to all parts of the world. The tree is a vigorous
erower; leaves very large, up to 8 by 10 inches, with generally five lobes, a few with
three, and occasionally entire; lobes separated by broad, deep sinuses, optuse toward
apex, finely to coarsely serrate, dark glossy green and rough above, lighter and smooth
beneath; petioles and veins greenish white; the former about half the length of the
blade; stipules pointed, brown when falling; fruit medium to very large, flat or onion
shaped, up to 3 inches in diameter, flat at apex; skin very thin, color light pea green -
when immature, delicately pubescent, fading to delicate light lemon yellow at
maturity, with scattered whitish dots, some of which are elongated; thin, medium to
short neck; stem very short; eye large, open, bordered by whitish protruding scales
a little lighter than the skin, surrounded by a dark ring or iris, ribs conspicuous from
apex to stem, branched, smoothing out as the fruit ripens; seeds large but not very
abundant; pulp*pink when unripe, deepening to dark amber at maturity; flesh thin,
white or greenish white. The sweetest and most luscious fig for consumption fresh
and unequaled as a dried fruit. Introduced into this country from Asia Minor by the
writer, a small shipment arriving in 1880 and 14,000 cuttings during the winter of
1881-82.
Kassaba.—Introduced from Asia Minor in 1882; tree vigorous, an upright grower,
_ outer branches drooping under a heavy load of fruit; leaves very large, up to 8 by 10
inches, nearly all three lobed; lobes broad toward apex, blunt, making a right angle;
sinuses shallow, one-fourth depth of blade, lobes occasionaliy overlapping; upper
surface light glossy green, slightly rough to the touch, smooth and lighter beneath;
edges fine to coarsely serrate; petioles and veins greenish white, tomentose, the
former one-fourth to one-third the length of the blade; stipules pointed, light green;
fruit pyriform, lopsided, truncate; color pea green, fading to lemon yellow at maturity,
lighter toward apex; ribs prominent, branched, wider apart toward neck, extending
almost from apex to stem; skin with delicate whitish bloom and faint whitish dots;
neck short, stout, stem very short; eye medium, open, bracts pinkish and not pro-
truding; pulp pinkish red, darkening to brown at maturity, flesh rather thick before
maturity, tinged with green which penetrates a sixteenth of an inch from the skin;
- seeds medium to large, but not numerous.
Blowers.—Tree thrifty and vigorous, of upright growth; leaves very large, mostly
three lobed, a few with five lobes, dark glossy green, rough above, lighter below, veins
and petioles yellowish green, edges of lobes dentate; petioles about one-third the length
of blade: fruit medium, globose, flattened at apex; ribs irregular, prominent, and
darker than skin between;skin lémon yellow, covered with scattered whitish dots; neck
small, bent to one side, longer than in the Lob Ingir; stem medium length; pulp
36 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
pink before and dark amber after maturity, intensely sweet, good flavor; eye medium,
open.
This variety was derived from cuttings of the writer’s importation from Smyrna in
1882, planted on the ranch of the late R. B. Blowers, Woodland, Cal: Turkish name
unknown; named ‘‘ Blowers” by Dr. Gustav Eisen.
Bisen.—A seedling of the Maslin orchard at Loomis, Cal., from the best type of —
imported Smyrna figs. The tree is unfortunately located near a swampy spot in the
orchard and is not in normal condition. Grafts have been inserted in better localities
where the fruit is showing high quality. ie
The following description is from vigorous, thrifty grafts. Leaves medium to large,
mostly five lobed; lobes bluntly pointed, edges coarsely serrate; upper surface dark,
glossy green, rough, smooth beneath, sinuses variable from shallow to deep, with no
overlapping of lobes; petioles greenish white, one-third the length of blade, veins a
shade lighter, covered with soft tomentum; stipules light green; fruit large to very
large, 2 to 22 inches in diameter, onion shaped like the Lob Ingir; neck thin, short;
stem very short; ribs prominent from apex to neck, often branched; skin very thin
and delicate, covered with white dots which remain till maturity; color greenish
yellow, changing to translucent amber when dry; occasionally the delicate skin cracks,
showing the white flesh within; pulp juicy, light amber, more transparent than the
Lob Ingir and extending to very near the skin, leaving the flesh very thin; fiavor
sweet and rich. A large portion of the crop at Loomis is self-sealed like the Rixford.
Cuttings in small numbers have been distributed to the best fig localities, and if its
high quality at Loomis is sustained at other places it will prove to be a valuable addi-
tion to the list of desirable figs. _Named in honor of Dr. Gustav Eisen.
Hilgard.—tLarge, thrifty tree, spreading top, trunk knobby, 24 feetin diameter. At 3
feet from the ground it divides into four large branches. Leaves three to five lobed,
many entire, glossy green above, rough, light green below; sinuses shallow, lobes
acute, edges finely to coarsely serrate; petioles one-fourth to one-third the length of
the blade, covered with very short tomentum or glabrous; veins a lighter shade; fruit
medium in size, lemon yellow, skin covered with minute whitish dots and very deli-
cate bloom, flat or onion shaped; ribs irregular, branched, extending from apex to.
stem, smoothing out at maturity; eye open, bracts pink, with a dark circle surround-
ing; neck very short or none; stem very short; pulp rosy red, deepening to dark amber
at maturity; seeds medium sized, not very numerous. This seedling tree of the
Maslin orchard at Loomis is almost immune from splitting, while fruit on adjoining trees
splits badly. This isa very sweet and excellent flavored fig. Named in honor of the
late Prof. E. W. Hilgard.
Rixford.—A seedling raised from the best imported Smyrna brand, planted by E. W.
Maslin in 1886 on his ranch at Loomis, Cal. The tree is vigorous, thrifty, and the
largest in the Maslin orchard of 172 trees; drooping habit with a spread of branches
over 50 feet and diameter of trunk 2 feet; leaves large, up to 8 by 8 inches, light green
above without gloss, three to five lobed, a few entire, finely to coarsely serrate, sinuses
shallow, not more than one-third the length of blade; petioles one-third to one-half the
length of blade, and with veins whitish green, smooth, covered with short, soft tomen-
tum; stipules pointed, whitish green. Fruit medium sized, up to 14 to 24 inches,
round-obtuse, somewhat flattened at the apex, neck small, short, bent to one side;
stem very short; ribs prominent from apex to neck, smoothing out at maturity; skin
thin, color lemon yellow, greenish toward the apex, with scattered white dots from:
center to neck, some elongated; eye small; bracts short, white, surrounded by dark
ring at maturity; pulp deep red, changing to brown amber when matureand dry. In
a large portion of the figs the eye is sealed as they ripen by the gradual hardening of a
drop of pellucid gum, effectually excluding filth and beetles and otherinsects. They |
do not sour, as germs of fermentation are also excluded. Very sweet and fine flavor,
but with the fault at Loomis in some seasons of splitting badly. One of the earliest
t
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SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. Of”
varieties in the Maslin orchard, frequently maturing as early as the first week in
August. Described and named by Walter T. Swingle, of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture.
Stanford.—A large, thrifty tree with dense top (fig. 12). Leaves medium to large,
three to five lobed or entire, sinuses shallow and broad, lobes bluntly pointed, edges
finely to coarsely serrate or wavy; dark green, rough, without gloss on upper suriace,
smooth beneath, with soft tomentum, petioles one-half to one-third the length of
blade and with veins greenish white and tomentose; fruit medium, a little smaller than
the ordinary Lob Ingir, turbinate or globular; neck small, very short; stem medium
to short; ribs not very prominent, irregular, extending from eye to neck, color lemon
yellow, with greenish tinge at maturity; eye very small, surrounded by dark ring,
scales whitish; pulp bright rosy red, dark amber at maturity; flesh white, tinged
with green.
This variety consists of four giant trees growing on rich bottom land of the Stanford
University ranch at Vina, Cal., in a row with ordinary Lob Ingir trees. These trees
were grown from cuttings imported from Asia Minor by the writer in 1882. The fruit
ripens a week or ten days earlier than that of other Lob Ingir trees and seems to be ©
immune from splitting. During the four years that the variety has been under obser-
vation not asingle split fig has been found on either tree, although the usual percentage
of split fruit was found on the ordinary Lob Ingir treesin the same row. The manager
of the ranch permitted the United States Department of Agriculture to take 500 cut-
tings each year for tour years for free distribution. The value of the variety will soon
be demonstrated from these widely distributed cuttings. The writer proposes to name
the variety ‘‘Stanford,’’ in honor of the late Gov. Leland Stanford, founder of
Leland Stanford Junior University.
West.—Another of the seedling trees of the Maslin orchard, raised from the best
imported Smyrna figs, has been named in honor of the late W. B. West, of Stockton,
Cal., who imported a great many varieties of figs from southern Europe and did much
for the fig industry in California. It is a large, thrifty, open-top tree, with long-
jointed wood and drooping branches, and with a clean, smooth trunk 16 inches in
diameter a foot from the ground. Leaves very large, deeply three to five lobed, with
coarsely serrated edges, glossy green above, under surface smooth, covered with
soft, short tomentum; petioles one-third to one-half the length of blade; fruit medium
to large, pyrifoem; color greenish yellow, retaining the green tint toward the neck
up to full maturity; pulp pinkish just before maturity, changing to dark amber when
_ fully ripe. One of the sweetest and best all-round figs in the Maslin orchard. Skin
very thin and almost immune from splitting. It bears a fair first crop. It is now
being tested in many localities from extensive distributions made by the United
States Department of Agriculture.
Wilson.—A clean, thrifty tree of spreading habit. Leaves large, shining, dark
green above, lighter and tomentose beneath, mostly three lobed, afew entire; lobes
obtuse, sinuses broad, shallow; lobes coarsely to finely serrate, or with wavy edges;
petioles large, greenish white, half as long as the blade, slightly tomentose or glabrous:
veins same color as petioles; stipules ight green, tipped with brown; fruit medium
to large, ribs conspicuous; skin thin, delicate, light green, inclined to crack in ripen-
ing,.covered with scattered whitish dots, pruinose toward the stem; neck very short
and thick; stem medium to short; eye medium, open; scales reddish brown, dis-
closing rosy red pulp within, which darkens to chocolate brown when dry; seeds
small, amber color; flesh thin, white. It makes a very good dried fig, rich, but not
equal in quality to the Lob Ingir. The variety was imported by the United States
Department of Agriculture in 1891 and named by Dr. Gustav Eisen in honor of James
Wilson, at that time Secretary of Agriculture.
Bardakjik.—Tree a compact, low-spreading grower, with thick, closely jointed
branches, leaves very large, five lobed, sinuses shallow. . Fruit handsome, medium to
38 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
large, pyriform, with short neck and long stem. Color light grayish green, covered
with small gray dots, especially toward the neck, ribs distinct; eye small, scales not
protruding, apex flat; skin very thin and delicate, cracking at full maturity, showing
the white flesh beneath; pulp a rich brilliant red, seeds small and numerous. A
first-class table fig, grown exclusively for that purpose in the Smyrna district of Asia
Minor. Roeding says that scattering trees are to be found in gardens near Smyrna
and in the foothills a few miles from the city. They are always caprified, but not so ~
systematically as in the fig district proper.
CAPRI VARIETIES.
Milco.—Tree vigorous, symmetrical, spreading, dense top, clean, smooth trunk and
branches (fig. 5); leaves medium to large, three to five lobed, dark glossy green above,
lighter below, lobes bluntly pointed, finely to coarsely dentate, sinuses shallow;
petioles half the length of the blade and with the veins hairy; stipules pointed, green,
turning brown when falling; profichi fruit medium to large, turbinate, lopsided;
neck short and stout; stem short, but increasing in length on those figs growing toward
the end of the old wood; ribs prominent when young, smoothing out as the size in-
creases; quite firm when the insects are ready to issue; color dark green, lighter
toward the stem, assuming a reddish brown at maturity; eye small, with pinkish
scales. This caprifig is unique in having a few male flowers scattered among the gall
flowers; cluster of stamens not large; gall zone well developed and generally -filling
the cavity of the receptacle; flesh greenish white, with band of dark violet stain.
The profichi crop, with its generation of Blastophaga, matures later than most varieties.
There is little doubt that the variety was imported from Italy by the late W. B. West,
of Stockton, under the name Verdoni, but was exploited by G. N. Milco, whose name
became attached to it. .
‘The Milco is an early bearer and one of the most valuable figs in cultivation. It car-
ried its annual crop of fruit and fig wasps for 40 years on the old Gates tree, 10 miles
west of Modesto, Cal., and on others in the vicinity of Lathrop, Cal., unaided by other
trees in the neighborhood. .
Loomis.—A Very thrifty, open-topped tree; leaves three to five lobed, a few entire;
lobes broad toward the apex and obtuse, sinuses shallow, edges finely to coarsely ser-
late; petioles half the length of the blade and with veins greenish white, slightly
tomentose; upper surface glossy green and very rough, under surface lighter and
~ smooth. Foliage holds later than most trees. Stipules purplish brown when falling.
Mamme crop good, up to half an inch to 1}inchesin diameter. The figs of the profichi
crop are very large, up to 24 inches in diameter, and have a distinct neck and promi-
nent ribs. This tree never fails to carry a good mamme crop, and it produces one of
the earliest profichi crops in the orchard.
Newcastle—Knobby trunk with spreading top, thrifty; leaves rough glossy green
with three to five lobes, mostly five, sinuses broad, half the depth of tle blade, no over-
lapping of the lobes, margins coarsely serrate and lobes acute, petioles short, one-half
the length of the blade, creamy white; leaves slightly glossy, green and rough above,
lighter green beneath; petioles and veins slightly tomentose; carrying a fair mamme
crop from three-quarters of an inch to 1} inches in diameter. Mammoni crop fair,
containing many seeds. Produces an early profichicrop. Tree vigorous and holding
foliage late.
Mason.—A thrifty, spreading tree, dense top, clean, smooth trunk; leaves with
three to five lobes, smooth surfaces, upper side dark green, under side a little lighter, |
sinuses deep, one-half to two-thirds the length of the blade, edges finely serrate to wavy,
points of the lobes obtuse; petioles one-third to one-half the length of the blade, veins
slightly tomentose. A splendid and very early caprifig, never failing to carry a
mamme crop through the winter. Profichi figs large, with enormous staminate cluster
and a long season.
SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. 39
Ficus pseudocarica.—Introduced into California by Dr. Franceschi, of Santa Bar-
bara. Thrifty tree, spreading habit, young wood pink, covered with short dense
tomentum; leaves medium sized, with three and five lobes, sinuses broad and shal-
low, one-quarter to one-third the depth of blade, lobes acute pointed, glossy green
above, lighter below; petioles and veins pinkish, covered with soft tomentum; peti-
oles half the length of the blade; stipules greenish pink. Figs of the mamme crop
three-eighths to one-half an inch in diameter, long, slim neck, stemvery long, greenish
red; profichi figs small, one-half to five-eighths of an inch in diameter, coppery red,
long stem and neck, ribs prominent, color reddish toward sun; eye small, raised above
surface, scales red. This caprifig, a native of northeastern Africa, is peculiar in that
figs of the mamme crop always contain stamens and can be used to caprify first-crop
Smyrnas, a fact noted first by Walter T. Swingle, of the United States Department of
Agriculture. _ |
_ Bleasdale.—Large spreading tree, dense top, clean trunk about 14 feet in diameter;
leaves dark glossy green, rough, mostly three, a few five lobed, many entire, large, up
to 8 by 8 inches, lobes obtuse, sinuses broad and shallow, half the depth of the blade,
edges finely to coarsely serrate or wavy; carries a good mamme crop from three-fourths
of an inch to 14 inches in diameter; petioles medium to long, up to one-half to two-
thirds the length of the blade, petioles and veins greenish white and slightly tomentose.
Figs of the profichi crop green and firm when the insects issue; rather late; abundant
staminate cluster and large gall zone. One of the most valuable seedling capri trees
of the Maslin orchard, never failing to carry a good mamme crop through the winter,
with a very large profichi crop in the spring. Named for the late Dr. John Bleasdale,
a prolific writer on the fig. 7
Roeding No. 1.—A thrifty tree of low, spreading habit, long-jointed wood, leaves
dark green without gloss, lighter shade below, three and five lobed, some entire, sin-
uses broad, shallow, edges coarsely serrate or wavy, petioles one-third to one-half the
length of the blade and with the veins covered with soft tomentum. Profichi figs
pyriform, small, neck long, few and not pronounced ribs, skin dark dull green, with
whitish dots, orifice large, flesh stained purple, gall flowers numerous, staminate
flowers producing abundance of pollen. Profichi figs a week earlier than Roeding
No. 2. The first Blastophaga were established in this country in the profichi crop of
this variety from the importations of Mr. Walter T. Swingle in April, 1899. [Chiefly
Mr. Roeding’s description. ]
Roeding No. 2.—Thrifty, erect growth, with slender limbs and long-jointed wood;
leaves medium to large, three and five lobes, dark green, smooth, sinuses medium
depth, one-half that of the blade, lobes cften overlap, edges of lobes wavy; petioles
long, one-half to two-thirds the length of blade and the veins greenish white, covered
with soft tomentum; lobes bluntly pointed. Profichi fruit medium, almost globular;
short stem and neck; ribs distinct, but not prominent; skin smooth, waxy, greenish
yellow; apex flat, eye medium, slightly raised; gall flowers numerous. Mamme crop
usually wanting or very small; profichi crop abundant. Valuable, Mr. Roeding says,
as lengthening the season for caprifying the Smyrna fig, but not reliable by itself, as
it does not carry a mamme crop through the winter.
Roeding No. 3.—Tree thrifty, straggling growth, of dwarfish habit; leaves medium,
three and five lobes, glossy green, rough above, lighter beneath, lobes broad toward
the apex, bluntly pointed, sinuses broad and half the length of the blade, no overlap-
ping of lobes, edges coarsely serrate or wavy; petioles and veins greenish white, cov-
ered with shorttomentum. Profichi fruit medium sized up to 3 inches long, turbinate,
neck and stem short; ribs conspicuous from apex to neck; skin light shining green,
thickly covered with whitish dots; eye large, protruding from a sunken apex; good
gall zone and staminate cluster; meat thick, stained with purple. The earliest of
the Roeding varieties and perhaps the most valuable, as it usually carries the mamme
crop through the winter.
40 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE INDUSTRY.
At the present time the annual production of dried figs in Califor-
nia amounts to about 6,000 tons, one-third of which are of the-
Smyrna type and the remainder chiefly Adriatic and Mission, the
Adriatic including by far the largest quantity. The reason for this
is that the Adriatic was extensively planted many years before the
Smyrna was introduced. In a few instances Adriatic figs are still
being planted under the mistaken idea that they are more prolific
bearers than the Smyrna variety. One prominent grower in the San
Joaquin Valley who has orchards of both Smyrna and Adriatic finds
that by a lberal supply of caprifigs he gets a ton to the acre more
from the Smyrna than from the Adriatic variety, while the former
sells for about double the price of the latter. At the present time he
is engaged in grafting his Adriatic trées to the Smyrna variety. The
fig plantings at present are confined almost entirely to the Smyrna
type and it is only a question of a few years before the markets of
this country will be supplied with home-grown Smyrna figs.
The cutting off of the supplies of figs from Asia Minor and the
countries of southern Europe by the war has so raised the prices as
greatly to stimulate the planting of figs in this country. It is a rea-
sonable estimate that 10,000 acres of Smyrna fig trees have been
planted in the central San Joaquin Valley alone during the last two
years. When these large plantings come into bearing, this country
will be independent of importations from Smyrna, and dried figs by
the carload will be as evident in commercial movements as raisins
are at the present time. ;
_ To show the increasing demand for the best figs, the purchasing
agent for the eating houses and the newsboy trade on one of the large
railroad systems of the country m 1913 contracted with a leading
packer for 80,000 hali-pcund cartons of California-grown Smyrna
figs, and the supply proved insufficient. In 1914 he contracted for
100,000 packages, and the supply -was still msufficient. Im 1915 he —
contracted for 120,000 packages. This buyer never handles any other
figs as long as the California-grown Smyrna supply holds out.
A 4-year-old Smyrna fig orchard ought to produce sufficient fruit
to pay all the expenses of cultivation, and from that age will yield
increasing crops indefinitely. The owner of one 20-acre orchard 9
years of age in 1914 reported a net yield of the value of $115 per
acre. The owner of a 40-acre orchard in the same locality, 13 years
old, reported an income of $250-per acre. However, it should be
mentioned that part of the last-mentioned crop was shipped to city
markets undried. Appearances at the present time indicate that
it will be but a few years before the 15 or 16 million pounds of figs
annually imported from Smyrna will be supplied by the home-grown
product. |
-
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